


send an s.o.s. to the world

by trousers



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Kaiju, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-25 15:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2626322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trousers/pseuds/trousers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck Hansen is ten years old when his Mum dies in an industrial accident, and he’s eleven years old when he throws a message in a bottle into the Sydney harbour.</p><p>--</p><p>Raleigh Becket is fifteen years old when his Mom dies of cancer, and he’s sixteen years old when he sees a message in a bottle floating in the waves off the Anchorage beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chuck Hansen is ten years old when his Mum dies in an industrial accident, and he's eleven years old when he throws a message in a bottle into the Sydney harbour. The last year has been long and sad, even after Chuck's father stopped drinking and crying all the time, and started just drinking and crying at night instead.

One night after his Dad passes out, Chuck nicks one of his empty beer bottles. He folds up the message he's spend all evening crafting, slides it into the bottle and seals the top as best he can with duct tape. He leaves his father snoring in the arm chair and runs down to the harbour, and throws the whole thing in the water. Chuck leans on the railing for a while, watching the shiny bottle bob in the sea. He has to get back soon. He needs to be up early for school tomorrow.

\--

Raleigh Becket is fifteen years old when his Mom dies of cancer, and he's sixteen years old when he sees a message in a bottle floating in the waves off the Anchorage beach. The water is too cold to wade in and get it, and anyway, he's meant to be watching his little sister Jaz while Yancy is at work, so he just stares out the window, willing it to come closer.

Yancy's home by the time the bottle finally washes up on the beach. Raleigh throws on his coat and races down to the shoreline, plucking it out of the surf. When he gets back inside, Yancy is setting the table for dinner and Jaz is chattering to him about her day at school. There are pots bubbling on the stove, and it almost looks like a happy family scene – except the parents are missing.

In the year since his Mom had died, Raleigh's father had disappeared, and his older brother Yancy had taken on the responsibility of looking after him and Jaz. It wasn't fair that Dad had left them. Yancy had just turned eighteen and was meant to start his Industrial Maintenance programme at the technical college in a few months, but instead he'd had to get a job at Safeway. He'd had to shoulder the burden of providing for his younger siblings – a burden he wasn't meant to take on when he should have been enjoying the best years of his life.

Raleigh does his best to keep his head down and do as he's told, because every day when Yancy comes home from another monotonous shift at work he looks so shattered it wouldn't be right to cause more trouble. Getting his homework in on time and dropping Jaz off at school is the least Raleigh can do. They're just trying to muddle through, and keep Jaz in clean clothes, and Raleigh feels like he's aged years in the last twelve months.

So it's exciting when he sees the bottle floating off the shore. It hits him suddenly, a fizzy feeling that he doesn't remember feeling since before his Mom died. It bubbles up in his stomach and he feels like a kid again.

Yancy smiles wearily at him. “Dinner's ready,” he says, dishing out the pasta from one pot and the ragu from another. There's silence as all three of them wolf the food down, hungry from long days and cold weather.

Raleigh offers to do the dishes, because Yancy looks dead on his feet, and scrubs them as quickly as possible, unable to get his mind off the bottle waiting in his parka pocket. He looks into the living room before heading upstairs, but Yancy has already fallen asleep on the sofa. Sleeping, Raleigh's brother looks like the nineteen-year-old kid he should be. Jaz is sitting on the floor, engrossed in drawing something, and doesn't even look up as he passes.

Finally alone in his room, Raleigh looks at the bottle properly. There's a bit of water in the bottom where it hasn't been sealed well enough, but the paper still looks intact. He picks at the duct tape covering the mouth of the bottle, slowly easing away the adhesive until it gives, and he can slide the paper out. When he opens it, he's a little disappointed to see some water damage, though most of the writing is still legible. He reads the childish scrawl:

                _Dear whoever you are,_

_My name is Chuck Hansen. I am 11 years old and im from sydney. I herd a story on the radio about a girl who put a message in a bottle and the person who found it wrote back to her and now they are friends. My mum died and none of my friends at school understand but maybe you do. She died in an accident last year. Anyway if you want to be friends then write to me i don't want dad to know so don't fone me okay._

_Okay bye. From Chuck hansen_

The writing at the bottom of the page was clearly an address once, but the water has smudged and blurred the ink so much that it's illegible.

Raleigh is surprised to find how disappointed he is – this Chuck kid sounds as lost as Raleigh felt last year, except it doesn't look like he has any siblings around for support. Just a deadbeat dad, too wrapped up in his own grief to remember what's left of his family, and, well, Raleigh knows a thing or two about that. But the address is gone, lost to the ocean, so no matter how much Raleigh would like to write back to Chuck Hansen from Sydney and tell him that he understands, it's just not possible.

He throws the bottle away but keeps the sheet of paper, folded back up and safely tucked away in the back of a drawer. Sometimes, when he really misses his Mom and – as much as he loves them – Yancy and Jaz aren't enough, he takes it out and re-reads it and tries to imagine Chuck Hansen.

\--

Raleigh spends the rest of high school staying out of trouble as much he can, graduates with average grades, and, despite his protestations that he should get a job and help Yancy support their family, starts at community college. Yancy has been promoted a couple of times now, and is bringing home significantly more than he did as a shelf stacker.

It's been rough at times, but one day Raleigh is sitting in the living room with Jaz while she pretends to do her English homework and he actually does his French homework and Yancy watches the news, and he finds himself blindsided by sudden happiness. French always reminds him of his mother and her soft accent, and there's an immediate reflex feeling of guilt as that voice in the back of his head reminds him that Mom is gone – but instead of bringing him down like it usually does, it fades as he realises that, actually, Mom would be proud of what they've built for themselves. Raleigh is happy, and what's left of his family is healing, and he can't help but wonder if Chuck Hansen from Sydney has found something similar.

\--

Chuck Hansen is nineteen years old when he gets a Facebook message from some guy he doesn't know.

He'd long since given up on his hopes for receiving a reply to his message in a bottle, hope turning to anger turning to acceptance as he grew up. Neither he nor Herc ever really got over his Mum's death – Herc might have started only drinking on the weekends, but he'd never gone back to being Chuck's dad.

When he'd been younger, Chuck had blamed Herc for everything. He'd even blamed him for letting Mum go to work that day, and though as he got older he'd realised that wasn't fair, he was still angry with his father for getting so wrapped up in his own grief that he damn near forgot about his own son. He hated Herc most when he was drunk, when he tugged Chuck close and cupped his face with those big rough hands and looked at him with teary eyes and mumbled, “You look like her… you look so much like her.”

At thirteen, Chuck would shove Herc away and storm up to his room, slamming the door, frustrated at his father's inability to cope – Chuck was sad too, of _course_ he was sad, but it seemed like his Dad wasn't even trying. At sixteen, he'd take the beer out of Herc's hand and help him upstairs to bed, and just hope he'd pass out quickly before he started crying and Chuck had to get out of the house to escape the sound. At nineteen, he'd say “I know,” and pull away and get Herc a glass of water, and sit beside him on the sofa while they finally, _finally_ talked about Mum.

Nineteen, then, and Chuck is a year into a Marine Biology course at the University of Sydney. Herc's recovery has been slow and painful, and it will probably never be complete, but at least they're at a place where they can function in the real world without Mum. Herc has another job at the base just outside town, though long years of alcohol abuse have made him unfit for active duty and now he teaches at the academy instead.

Chuck has never really lost that kernel of anger burning deep inside, nurtured by years of neglect and confusion and grief. His father had abandoned him for years, as surely as if he'd left altogether, and even the best gestures now couldn't fix that. But he vented it through running and lacrosse, and sailed through high school with excellent grades, his teachers always surprised by his aptitude for academia when they heard about his home life.

He doesn't have any real friends at Uni, too quiet to speak to anyone and too prickly for anyone to speak to him. He's had to join Facebook to keep up with the Marine Biology course announcements, but his only friends on there are people from his course who've added him out of what is probably pity. So it's a surprise, to say the least, when his phone chimes with a message alert. At first his assumes it's from Herc, probably asking him to get something for dinner on his way home from lectures, but it's not the usual text sound, and when he checks the screen it says he's got a Facebook message.

He doesn't recognise the name – Raleigh Becket – or the face in the picture, but he can't help but defer to his curiosity and open the message. He scans the text and the memory of that hope he'd once had hits him all of a sudden. He doesn't remember much of his mother, just a few images of the curl of her hair and the shape of her smile, and the sense of feeling safe and happy, but it all comes rushing back as he reads the message.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any spelling/grammar mistakes are Chuck and Raleigh's!

Hi there,

My name is Raleigh Becket. Back in 2003 I found a message in a bottle washed up along the Anchorage coastline.

I couldn’t read the return address because the water had got in, but I still kept the letter and I've been thinking about my reply for the last eight years. Now I’m trying to track the writer down through social media.

It was signed Chuck Hansen. If this sounds familiar to you, please message me back!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

Sorry about the late reply. I’ve been really busy with school.

I thought that bottle was lost at sea and no one would ever see it. I gave up on it years ago, so I’m pretty surprised to hear from you now.

Can you send me a picture of the letter, I just want to make sure this is real and not a hoax or something.

Chuck Hansen

\--

Hi Chuck,

That’s okay, I’ve got a lot on at work too. I attached a photo of the letter – you’ve got great handwriting! (ha ha)

How old are you now? Did things work out with your Dad? I don’t know how long that bottle had been floating around in the sea before I found it.

I wanted to reply because when I found the message my mom had recently died and it would have been good to talk to someone who understood. I mean I had my siblings but my sister was too young really and my brother was working so I didn’t want to make a big deal.

Sorry it’s so late. I hope you’re still interested. I wish sixteen year old Raleigh could have talked to eleven year old Chuck.

Yours,

Raleigh

Attachment: Chuck’s letter.jpg

\--

Raleigh,

I don’t really know you and I’m not an eleven year old kid any more so I’m not going to talk about my feelings with you on the internet. But that is the letter I sent, so… I guess I owe you.

Mum died, it happened and I’ve learnt to move on I guess. Dad, not so much. But he’s trying. Maybe I’m lucky in a way because I was so young when she died, so I can’t remember a lot. It sounds like you were older. That must have been hard.

I’m 19 and I’m studying Marine Biology at the University of Sydney (and my handwriting is better now, thanks). Sorry if it takes me a while to reply with these messages, I don’t get on facebook very often. You can probably tell from the amount of friends I have on here.

Chuck

\--

Hi Chuck,

I’m so glad you replied! And I totally get your not wanting to share your deepest darkest feelings with me. I’m just so happy I finally get to talk to you :) Hope you don’t mind if I spill though!

Yeah I remember Mom dying, lung cancer is a bad way for it to happen as well. My dad left us soon after and we haven’t heard from him since. It was tough for a while but my brother Yancy held us together and got a job when he should have been starting college, he gave up everything for me and my sister and I’ll never be able to repay him for that.

Maybe you want to hear about me? I’m 24, I finished college a couple of years ago and majored in French. My mom was French so I guess I have a natural aptitude for it, even though I was never the top of the class in any of my other classes. Now I work for a translation company here in Anchorage, Yancy is store manager at the Safeway, and Jaz is in high school.

Is that your dog in the picture? (or are you really a dog ha ha) I love dogs, I always wished we had one when I was growing up.

Hope it’s okay if I add you on here.

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

Not gonna lie I think you’re a bit mental for spilling your life story to me. Like you said, I’m just a picture of a dog to you. But yeah, he’s mine. His name is Max and I’ve had him since I was 17, when Herc finally got his shit together and started trying to be my dad again.

I feel stupid for carrying on with this but you’re right, it’s kind of good to talk about it. I guess I’ve been sitting on it for a long time.

Lung cancer is rough. I’m sorry to hear about it.

Chuck

\--

Hi Chuck,

Ha ha, you wound me :) So what do you really look like, if you’re not a dog? No pressure if you don’t want to send a photo, it’s nice just talking finally.

Sorry if I don’t reply for a while! Yancy, Jaz, and I are going on vacation together. It’s going to be the first time that we’ve got enough money and can all get time off work for it since before Mom died. We’re going to her hometown in France, Saint-Saveur, to finally scatter her ashes, and then we’re renting a house just outside Orleans for a couple of weeks. Hopefully we can go to Paris for a few day trips, and maybe some hiking in the Orleans forest. I’ll send you some photos when I get back!! :)

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

I don’t send photos to just anyone on the internet. But it only seems fair since you’ve kept talking to me for so long. And you seem like an alright bloke. I’d better not see this anywhere else online!

I haven’t been on holiday since before my Mum died either. I mean we went to Perth for her funeral cause there’s where she was from but that doesn’t count really. I wanted to go travelling after I finished secondary school but it just didn’t happen.

So who’s that girl in your profile picture? Is she your girlfriend?

Chuck

Attachment: 1002492.jpg

\--

Hi Chuck,

Wow thanks for sending me that photo! I didn’t think you would! Promise I won’t distribute your likeness without consent ;)

France was amazing, I mean it was sad letting Mom go, it felt really final, but having been messaging you for a while now it felt like everything had come full circle. It was the right time, I think. Thanks for humouring me, it really has helped.

Most of the photos from France are in their own public album on my Facebook page, but I took this one especially for you. Hope you like it!!

That’s Mako in my profile picture, she’s my best friend. She’s in college like you, except she’s majoring in Engineering. She’s the smartest person I know and I’d be lost without her (she told me to write that. But to be fair, it’s true). She works part-time in the coffee shop where I go on the way to work, that’s how we met. Jaz says we should get married but it’s not like that, we’re just best friends.

Yours,

Raleigh

Attachment: beckets YMCA louvre.jpg

\--

Raleigh,

That photo was pretty funny. Max thinks you’re a nerd.

Does Mako see these messages? I thought they were just us.

Chuck

\--

Hi Chuck,

Don’t worry, Mako doesn’t see your messages! I was just telling her about Max because she loves bulldogs! But she doesn’t know anything else I promise!!

Max thinks I’m a nerd?! That hurts, you know!

At least you like me :)

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

Don’t be stupid, I don’t like you. I don’t like anything. I’m a lone wolf, except for Max, who is also a lone wolf.

I guess I don’t mind you telling Mako about me, but nothing about my Mum or Herc yeah? I’m kind of amazed I even talked about that with you.

Chuck

\--

Hi Chuck,

Oh no, I’m so sorry I offended your lone wolf status! Guess I’m lucky that lone wolves can still use facebook :)

I told Mako a little bit but nothing important I promise!! She wants me to ask you for more pictures of Max though. She’s insatiable!

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Hi Chuck,

Hope everything is alright. If the thing about Max made you uncomfortable I’m really sorry. I totally respect your privacy and I promise I won’t tell Mako anything else.

Hope you write back soon.

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

I’m not mad, I was just busy with exams for a while.

Its okay I don’t mind you telling Mako about me. If she likes dogs she must be alright.

How is your summer going? I’m so glad exams are over, I can’t wait to lie on the beach all day and hang around with Max.

Things as home seem a lot better recently. Maybe my talking about things to you has been helping. I’m happy that you found me on here

Chuck

Attachment: max asleep on my bed.jpg

Attachment: max dreaming about chasing wallabies.jpg

Attachment: max with his head stuck in a beer box.jpg

Attachment: max wrecked this shoe.jpg

\--

Hi Chuck,

Sorry about that, I panicked! Thought I’d gone too far. It’s so hard to tell inflection with these messages.

You know, I never realised how much I’d miss school until I stopped having those long summer breaks. I’m so jealous! Wish I could hang out at the beach with Max too (you can come too I guess).

It’s good to hear things are going better at home. I always wonder what things would have been like if my Dad had stayed.

Mako says thanks for the photos of Max and I accidentally scrolled too far and went onto the picture of you and she told me to say that you’re pretty. So. You’re pretty. Hope that’s alright.

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

I don’t think I’ve ever been called pretty before. But thanks for letting me come to the beach with you and Max, that’s just great, you’re so charitable!

Hey don’t even think about your Dad. He’s not worth a second of your time and you don’t need him anyway. You’re a top bloke Raleigh. I’m glad we’re friends.

Chuck

\--

Hi Chuck,

I was reading your message in the shop where Mako works and I was smiling at my phone so she asked what was going on and I said that you’d said we were friends and she’s been laughing at me for ten minutes straight.

Hey there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. The thing is I’ve been promoted and I need to come to Sydney for a meeting with some clients. They want to meet me first so they feel comfortable that the company will do a good job on the contract. And I was wondering if you maybe wanted to meet up?

I’ll be in town next Thursday, if you’re interested. My meeting finishes at four.

Yours,

Raleigh

\--

Raleigh,

I’d like that.

I’ll be in Belmore Park at four with Max.

Chuck

\--

//

\--

Dear Mr Hansen,

My name is Mako Mori. Raleigh may have mentioned me to you before.

I am writing to inform you that, should you hurt Raleigh, I will hunt you down and gut you.

Have a pleasant day.

With regards,

Mako Mori

P.S. Say hello to Max for me!

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Message in a Bottle by The Police.


End file.
